Island Life Magazine Ltd October/November 2010 | Page 68

on the water

Island Life - October/November 2010

Photo: Top:MUNKENBECK, J/109, Bottom left: CORE GROUP CHALLENGER, First 40.7
Bottom right: Stavros Flatley entertains at the LBCC Theme Night

Little Britain celebrates
There was sunshine, sailing and plenty of
celebration when this year’s Little Britain
Challenge Cup – Europe’s largest annual
construction industry regatta – took place off
Cowes.
The three-day regatta attracted an
enthusiastic crowd, as well as 115 boats
across nine classes. This year saw the
introduction of a Pilot Cutter class. These
elegant boats added another dimension to
the regatta with three boats taking part.
Racing conditions were perfect for the
first two days but there was doubt on the
Saturday as to whether the second race
of the day would happen as the wind in
the Solent died right down. With everyone
getting ready to pack away their sails, the
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wind picked up again in the early afternoon
and the race eventually turned out to be one
of the best in the whole of the regatta.
Despite five wins in their class, MITIE’s
hopes of scoring a hat-trick with a third
consecutive overall regatta win were
scuppered when they were knocked off their
perch by Core Group’s entry Core Group
Challenger in the Beneteau 40.7 Class whose
crew took the title for the first time.
There was plenty of excitement on dry land
as well as in the water with a busy social
programme taking place each evening.
Stavros Flatley from popular TV programme
‘Britain’s Got Talent’ starred during the Greek
Theme night and they managed to get nearly
a 1,000 people on their feet performing
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